“Camille rather liked Suzanne, who took verbal crudity to an incandescent intensity that could only inspire admiration – Camille’s mother had taught her to consider vulgarity as a way of coping with life.”

Fred Varagas, Seeking Whom He May Devour by

Fred Vargas is the pseudonym of Frédérique Audoin-Rouzeau, a French historian and archaeologist who is also the author of some of the most interesting and quirky mysteries I've read in a lifetime of reading mysteries (my favorite genre) since starting with Perry Mason and Sherlock Holmes when I was 14. Unfortunately, only five of her fourteen or so novels have been translated. She is a wonderful writer and I recommend her even to those who don't like mysteries. Her characters are always interesting.

TODAY'S WORD

Another wonderful book is The Word Museum: The Most Remarkable English Words Ever Forgotten by Jeffrey Kacirk. I'll be quoting from it a lot in the coming weeks. If you, like me, love obscure and obsolete words, you can't go wrong with this book.

Aforcing - Stretching the amount of a dish to accommodate more people.